Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Reversal Time

It is time for a reversal on overwintered colonies. The purpose of a reversal is to give the queen more room to lay. Without a reversal the bees are reluctant to expand their brood nest. Expanding the brood nest will help get the populations up for a divide in May.
To do a reversal. If the hive is two deep boxes just rotate the boxes. Bottom to top, top to bottom.
 If it is a three box hive. I like to move the bottom to the top and then move the other two boxes straight down.
The pollen patty should be where the bees are. Sometimes a patty has to be in two places between boxes and on the top box. This assures that the bees always have pollen available.